Nightline will question the battle in Samarra tonight

Nightline Daily E-Mail
December 1, 2003



TONIGHT'S FOCUS: It was apparently the largest firefight since the war. Early reports say that between 40 and 50 Iraqis were killed when they ambushed two American columns in the town of Samara. But now, some of those details are in dispute. What did happen? And over the last couple of days, Spain, Japan, Colombia and other countries have all lost people in Iraq. Is that part of a new campaign?



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The pictures of the aftermath of the fight in Samara are pretty striking. American troops used tanks, Bradleys, and other heavy weapons to fight off two ambushes. Now the U.S. has said that a large number of Iraqis were killed, wounded, or captured. But as time goes by, it appears that those early numbers may be revised downward. Coming in to work today, I heard a report from Iraq quoting Iraqis who said that the Americans opened fire indiscriminately and that mostly women and children were killed. It should come as no surprise that Samara is very hostile towards the U.S. In fact, talking to our team in Baghdad, they said that it was considered too dangerous for Westerners to go up there today. But what really did happen? ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman will lay out everything we know.

At the same time, other countries were hit by the violence in Iraq as well on the last weekend of what has turned out to be the bloodiest month in Iraq, bloodier even than the invasion itself. A number of Spaniards were killed in an ambush, two Japanese were killed, a Colombian contractor, and others. This follows the attack on the Italians a while back. Are these other countries being targeted in an effort to drive a wedge between them and the U.S? Or are they just the victims of attacks against anyone associated with the opposition? We don't really know. But these deaths will have an impact in those countries, and that has long-term repercussions for the occupation as well. Nightline correspondent John Donvan will report on that part of the story tonight.

Chris Bury will anchor tonight, and he'll be interviewing a number of journalists from those countries, to see what the reaction is in their respective homes. I hope you'll join us tonight, and I hope that all of you had a great holiday weekend. Welcome back.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
ABCNEWS Washington bureau

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We will resist Bush until the last child states an Iraqi man.

Thanks for the heads up.

so I guess the main story of Sammara was in the first minutes of the show that I missed. Did anyone catch it?